hey everyone, i need some advice!... right now i have a 04 ssm at tsx with about 172,000 miles on it and am on the fence about everything and dont know what to do! the only thing on the car is an injen intake i installed about 2 yrs ago and some blue footwell leds, id love to put an exhaust, wheels, suspension etc. on..now i dont know whether or not to keep the car and continue modding it with that many miles or go with a newer car..

the cars ive been lookin at are 335i coupe mt, g37 coupe mt, or my friends 05 g35 mt...i really do love the tsx but just want a manual car although i dont mind the automatic now..ive driven all 3 cars and love them all, i actually work as a valet at a local casino so i get to drive all the cars numerous times haha so pretty much what im asking is would you keep your paid off 04 tsx at with 172,000 miles on it and mod it or go with one of the newer cars??

thanks everyone!

 

depends on your financial status.

can you afford these vehicles?
no car payments ftw.

 

yeh im capable of having car payments, but i know thats one of the things thats making me wanna keep it! lol ...would u mod a car with 150k+ miles?

 

^depends.


I'm not in a position to keep switching cars. I'm keeping my '06 for at least 10 years.
at least till the wheels fall off.

but if you have that itch for something faster+rwd+MT, and have enough cash to put down a good sized DP or enough cash to out right buy then I would do it.

Also, I wouldnt want to switch cars that are in the same general year as my original car. you have an 04, and want to switch to an 05?????
most likely, that G would be in the same boat as your TSX. high mileage, and things breaking.

 

The question really isn't whether or not it's a good idea to mod a high-mileage car. The question should be whether or not you plan on keeping the car for a long time. Who cares if the car has 172k miles if you'll keep it for years and put another 150k miles or so. If, on the other hand, you plan to change cars soon, then of course it's not worth it to mod the car.

When you change cars, you're going to have to pay car payments again. It would be better to put your money budgeted for mods into the car payments to try and pay it off sooner (to reduce the interest you pay). Thus, you won't really be modding the car much until the car is mostly paid off again.

And I agree with justnspace, going from an 04 to an 05 isn't much of an upgrade. The 05 is already a 6 year old car. Go for at least an 08 so that you can get the newest car available where the depreciation hit has already been taken care of.

If you don't feel like it's worth modding your car, just stop modding it and save up the money for a new car. With no car payments now, you will build up your savings quickly.

I loved my last car, and I modded it even though I got it at 140+ miles. Thinking back, I wish I had modded it even more (I couldn't because I was in college, so all of my modding money came from the student loans I got for my allowance money...tuition was free).

 

Cars and mods are both depreciating assets. If you mod your car, you'll have control over your spend, vs a car payment - losing money on a scheduled basis.

 

You will never get any $$ back on any mod you do on your TSX. I've spent close to $7,000 on mods for my TSX and RDX. I will most likely get about 10-15% back if I sold both cars today. We all mod knowing there is very little return on our investment other than personal enjoyment.

For me, 200,000 miles would be the max I would keep a car and you are already at +172,000 miles. I'll say to put in the bank the $$$ you would spend on a new(er) car payment every month you drive the TSX (don't forget to add gas+insurance+maint also). Before long, you will have a pretty good down payment to move up a couple of model years into something that does not need a lot of $$ to mod.

My vote would be an 07-09 RDX with hondata reflash for $300. I cannot keep up with my wife in my TSX when she is behind the wheel of her RDX. She only has eibach springs, hondata, and K/N air filter for about $700+labor.

 

I suspect the 2005 Infiniti is in the mix due to OP shopping around for comparable off the lot costs for similar models. When I was shopping in 2007 for a 2004, 2005, 2006 MY car, I looked (briefly) at Infinitis until I saw the price range. I think RX8s were similar (retarded depreciation), while "under-appreciated" RSXes and TSXes were bargains. (After driving a 2004 RSX Type-S and JDM 2003 Integra Type-R in Gran Turismo 4, I'm sort of regretting my decision to go for luxury 4-door. Hot little track cars.)

OP, you can mod if it you're going to keep it for a few years and plan to enjoy the fruits of the mods. But not if you think it's in the twilight. Maybe keep it for an economical daily driver while you save up $ for that nifty little fun weekend car. Or ...you could mod it and take it to tracks & autocross, but the TSX with 5AT is not going to turn heads, it will simply be fun. (I just did some informal 0-60 runs in mine Sunday, got 8.35s avg, and 13.79s 1/8 miles.) Once she's going, the TSX can be quite zippy.

It all depends upon your own finances.